Hungary awaits: Where the soul travels, and wine takes you to heaven

Located just 20 kilometers from Győr, Pannonhalma boasts a history stretching back more than a thousand years. Its pride and joy is the Benedictine archabbey built on St. Martin’s Hill, which has been a World Heritage Site since 1996. Within the walls of this building complex, which stands out from the landscape like a jewel box, we can take a journey through time and enrich our souls. The ancient monastery touches 21st-century visitors in many ways. You can immerse yourself in the majestic silence of the Gothic basilica and glimpse into the varied lives of the monks: they perform the liturgy, run the boarding school, operate a publishing house, organize concerts, and even have their own winery and herb garden. 

 Although the famous library with its 400,000 volumes is temporarily closed to visitors, there is no shortage of attractions. This is where you will find the country’s first fragrance museum, which houses an arsenal of aromas ranging from ambra to musk, including the five traditional Pannonhalma scents: lavender, sage, thyme, lemon balm, and peppermint.

In the surrounding landscape, the most impressive view is from the nearby Boldog Mór lookout tower, named after one of the first Hungarian high priests, which was voted Lookout of the Year last year. The 20-meter-high tower, built from oak trees from the Sokoró Hills, is connected to a nearly 80-meter-long walkway that reaches the canopy level and ends in a viewing terrace shaped like a fish, a Christian symbol. The landscape opens up above us, revealing the rolling hills, the town below and the Győr Basin, and on a clear day, even the northern foothills of the Bakony Mountains.

 The abbey arboretum, the first known historical Hungarian garden, is worth a longer walk. It is home to nearly a thousand plant species and about 150 bird species representing five continents.

The Pannonhalma wine region is Hungary’s smallest and oldest wine region, where even the Romans grew grapes. However, it was the first Benedictine monks who settled on St. Martin’s Hill after the Hungarian conquest who gave viticulture a real boost. 

 The mineral-rich soil is an excellent growing area for typically aromatic, slightly thicker white wines. In addition, the wines of this region are typically rich in alcohol, often spicy in aroma, and can be aged for a long time. 

 The abbey winery follows Benedictine traditions, and its beautifully designed tasting terrace is the perfect place to soak up the picturesque panorama while sipping a glass of PH–Érték wine. This rich white wine is offered under the same brand name and with a uniform image by five other wineries in the wine region, each adding its own individuality and taste to the wine.

An ideal way to relax is an easy bike ride from Győr to Pannonhalma, passing through Nyúl and Écs. We can comfortably cycle along the asphalt bike path for nearly 20 kilometers, stopping at several rest areas along the way, or we can take a short detour to the nearly 100-year-old primeval forest on the outskirts of Écs.

The article was originally published in the Hungarian Tourism Association Foundation’s magazine titled Magyarország vár (‘Hungary awaits’’).

Source: turizmus.com